episode_0150

The early December days, which were bearable without a scarf, passed, and as mid-December approached, white poop began to fall softly from the sky.

“Hoo…”

I was able to complete the ties to give to His Excellency the Head of State.

A whopping four types.

One is a navy tie with gold stripes that can be worn universally.

The second is a white bow tie to be worn at the most formal occasions.

The third is a brown skinny tie made as thin as possible to suit His Majesty the Emperor’s taste.

And the last is a gray ascot-style tie tailored to the common tastes of the nobles.

The time invested in making these four ties, each with its own style, was a whopping four days.

In fact, not only me but also Adelheid and Katerina were involved, and this tie was a masterpiece made with the best materials and the best effort.

We put so much effort into it that while making this tie, we did not allow a single hair’s width of error in the position and spacing of the seams, embroidery, and dimensions.

I’m not talking about a figurative expression, but in a real physical sense.

“Keueung…”

Blinking my dimming eyes wildly, I took off the loupe and put it far away. I stretched out my back, which was screaming from being hunched over for half a day, and raised my head.

Because I had been staring at the fabric and seams for too long, the pattern of woven silk flickered in my eyes even when I was looking at the ceiling.

“Eueo…”

“You’ve worked hard, take this first and catch your breath.”

As I was pressing down on the bridge of my nose and making an old man-like groan, Emily, who had approached carefully, handed me a tray with a few cookies on it.

Originally, you shouldn’t eat anything in front of the workbench, but right now, my brain was yelling at me to eat something sweet.

“Thank you…”

I expressed my gratitude in a weak voice, picked one up, and shoved the cookie into my mouth at once.

– Crunch!

As the cookie was crushed against my teeth, the savory taste of butter and the sweetness of sugar spread throughout my mouth.

Even before I swallowed it, my brain, realizing that sugar was entering my body, cheered and re-awakened my body, which was about to become sluggish.

“Hoo… I feel like I’m going to live…”

It felt like the sugar had already spread to every single brain cell.

I wanted to relax and spend some time drinking black tea, but I didn’t have time for that, so I ate one more cookie, gestured for it to be cleared away, and carefully wiped my fingers with a handkerchief.

“Are you finally done with everything?”

As I was rubbing my hands with the intention of not leaving a speck of oil or powder, Elizabeth, who was handing over the cloth to Adelheid and returning to her seat, approached as if baton-touching with Emily and showed interest in the tie.

“Yeah, all that’s left is to wrap it.”

“How are you going to wrap it?”

“I’ve prepared everything in advance, take a good look.”

With a confident smile, I reached under the workbench, took out the highest-quality mahogany box that I had obtained after a lot of trouble, and placed it on the workbench.

The wooden box, carefully oiled, boasted its unique dark red color and shone brightly.

“Wow~ This is crazy… Light is coming out of the wood.”

“Oh my…”

The quality was so impressive that I was amazed every time I saw it, even though I had obtained it and seen it several times.

Elizabeth also let out a light exclamation and gently ran her finger over the surface of the box.

“This is top-quality mahogany, how did you manage to get wood that can be found across the sea?”

“I searched for about a month and barely got it.”

“Heueung~ You put a lot of effort into it.”

“Of course, who am I giving this to?”

It’s a gift to the person who made me who I am today, it’s impossible to just pass it off casually.

Well… thanks to that, I think I suffered a lot more, but I received the title of Baron, so if I just gloss over it, my reputation won’t be saved.

“Good job.”

And as if to prove that these efforts were a very excellent choice, Elizabeth looked at me with warm eyes and gently placed her hand on my shoulder.

Hearing the heartfelt compliment, I felt like my shoulders were soaring high into the sky.

Now that I knew my judgment was right, it was time to wrap the gift.

“Hoo…”

Taking a calm breath, I very carefully grabbed the lid of the box, and with a careful touch so that the wood and wood would not be scratched, I lifted the lid and gently placed the lifted lid on the velvet pedestal next to it.

The space inside was revealed as the lid was removed.

The interior was divided into four compartments of almost square size so that the tie could be rolled up and placed inside, and the bottom was covered with velvet and filled with cushions filled with cotton and wild waterfowl down, and the inside of the lid was decorated with gold leaf to add to the splendor.

“Heo…”

Elizabeth, who had glanced inside the box over my shoulder, burst out laughing.

“How much money did you pour into the packaging? At this point, isn’t the tie the packaging and the box the gift?”

“It’s about that level, give or take.”

“At this point, you could just send the box and they would be happy.”

“That’s a relief.”

I felt a little relieved at Elizabeth’s continued praise.

At least I wouldn’t get cursed for the gift, so I could just focus on decorating it as beautifully as possible with peace of mind.

“Then, first…”

Clenching and unclenching my hands, I straightened my slightly loosening mind and turned my head slightly. I picked up the white bow tie first.

Then, I carefully unfolded it on the workbench so that the fabric and thread would not be damaged, and gently grabbed the end of the bow tie.

And with my breath held so that my hands wouldn’t shake.

Firmly so that the shape wouldn’t be disturbed.

Loosely so that the fabric wouldn’t be pressed or wrinkled.

So that even my fingernails wouldn’t touch the fabric.

Focusing on the sensation in my fingertips, I rolled it up as carefully as possible.

“Sseup- Hoo-”

When my heart started to beat faster and my fingertips started to tremble slightly, I took a deep breath and released my fingers.

And when my head felt clear enough, I held my breath again and started rolling the tie.

The cylinder gradually grew in size.

When about a finger’s width of the unrolled part remained, I gently picked up the bow tie and gently and kindly placed it in the second compartment of the box, as if placing a baby.

The perfect shape and size that fit perfectly inside the square.

“Keueu~”

I was intoxicated by my hand movements and the tension was released.

Armed with that confidence and relaxed mind, I immediately picked up another tie without hesitation or hesitation, unfolded it neatly, and started rolling it up.

After repeatedly rolling and putting in the ascot style, skinny tie, and striped pattern tie in order, I was finally able to see the four ties standing side by side in a straight line inside the box.

A neat and perfectly organized angle.

“How is it?”

I moved the box slightly to the side to make it easier for Elizabeth to see, and looked up at Elizabeth as if boasting.

“It’s pretty, you’ve organized it so well that it’s hard to take it out carelessly.”

“I think so too.”

Nodding my head and wearing a satisfied smile on my face, I finally put the tie pin that would hold the tie in place on the shirt into the box and put the lid that I had put aside on top.

If the person receiving the gift was right next to me, I could have just handed it over as is, but since the person wasn’t next to me and it wasn’t the time to hand it over, I laid an ivory silk cloth that seemed to be three times as wide as the box under the box.

The unique luster of oiled mahogany and the unique luster of silk were mixed together, and the illusion of looking at stained glass unfolded before my eyes.

Perhaps it’s because the materials are expensive, but the luxury that they exude on their own is no joke, even though they are not elaborately decorated.

“Hiya…”

Letting out a light exclamation at the luxuriousness that pleased my eyes, I grabbed both corners of the silk wrapping cloth and wrapped the box in the cloth while gathering the wrapping cloth as it was.

Then, I gently tapped the cloth upwards to make the box move towards the center due to gravity.

When I thought it had moved towards the center to some extent, I repeated the same action with the other corners to center the box in the wrapping cloth.

Once I had pushed the box to the center in this way, I pulled the wrapping cloth so that it would not wrinkle, gathered all the corners of the wrapping cloth at once, and made a neck as close as possible to the box.

I tied a string around the neck that was created in that way to prevent the wrapping cloth from unraveling. After folding and bending the corners of the wrapping cloth that came out long like rabbit ears to make petals and sepals, I fixed them well again with a string, and the wrapping cloth packaging with flowers blooming on the box was completed.

“It’s done…!”

As soon as I witnessed the birth of a plump and symmetrical flower, I shouted in a small voice full of joy and clenched my fist.

At this point, I would never be inferior to other people.

“When did you learn how to wrap like that? The wrapping cloth feels like a work of art.”

“I learned it from Emily because of this, it was a very harsh education.”

“Just looking at that flower, I can tell how hard you practiced, it’s symmetrical as if it was measured with a ruler.”

It took me a whopping two hours to learn this one wrapping method.

Because the petals were not uniform.

Because the plumpness of the petals was insufficient.

Because the sepals were too short.

Because the wrinkles were too strange.

Because one petal was short.

Because one sepal was too long,

Etc., etc., she coldly shouted ‘Do it again’ for various reasons and drove me until I passed, so now I have become so skilled that I can make the petals pretty and full even with my eyes closed.

And I was able to finish His Excellency the Head of State’s gift to near perfection by fully demonstrating that ability.

Now, if I just deliver it perfectly, this work is over.

I feel a sense of liberation.

“Heua~”

Leaning back in my chair, I stretched and gazed blankly at the ceiling.

Now that I’ve finished a major task, I’ll be able to work with leisure for the time being.

“Hehe~”

I felt so good.